Thursday, August 11, 2011

Spoiled Rotten


We got Dolce's blood work back yesterday. It looks like everything is within normal limits...which is great news! Unfortunately we cannot move forward with surgery or even a dental because Dolce's heart disease has gotten worse. We were told that as long as he continues to cough it will be too dangerous to put him under anesthesia. We've since doubled him up on his enacard. It seems like his coughing has improved since we changed the dosage, but we need him to be on this dosage for a while before we can think about putting him under. So frustrating! Every time we think we're getting somewhere with him we have another set back. I'm beginning to think that his jaw will never fully heal and we will spend the rest of his life trying to manage his heart disease...actually that statement is probably 100% accurate. Sad but true.

Changing the subject to something more uplifting...Dolce is getting more and more affectionate. Lately he's becoming a mommas boy and I can't hide the fact that I love it. Last night he was so happy when I came home from hiking he immediately laid down on my chest and nuzzled up. Of course I was happy that Dolce was so attached to Brett but I couldn't help but feel a little jealous.

This morning Brett let Brownie and I sleep in while he took Rico, Chico and Dolce outside and started getting their breakfast ready. Something that is funny/weird about Dolce is that in the morning it takes a while to get him to start eating. I usually have to start out with hand feeding him, then I stop and act like I'm not paying attention. Once he knows I'm not looking he will start eating. Brett isn't so patient with him, unlike me he will not get down, sit on the floor and feed Dolce. So this morning I was just getting out of bed and came into the kitchen to see Dolce refusing to eat and staring at me. So I sat down and started hand feeding him. Brett just looked at me sitting Indian-style on the kitchen floor handing Dolce a piece of food and said, "he is spoiled rotten." I smiled up at him and said, "I know."

Saturday, August 6, 2011

Good News, Bad News & No News

Just as planned, Brett and I took Dolce over to West LA to see Dr. Adams today. Almost immediately Dr. Adams brought up a concern that I have been worried might be happening. When he listened to Dolce's heart he noticed that his heart murmur is louder than it was previously. I have been worried about this for a while; I've noticed that Dolce's cough has been coming back and getting steadily worse. To help ease his heart disease we are upping Dolce's heart meds. Since Dr. Adams knows I am a professional worrier, he let me know that sometimes it takes several attempts to find the right dosage for the heart meds we are giving Dolce.

At this time because of Dolce's heart murmur getting worse, surgery cannot take place. Luckily, Dr. Adams said that the wire that is holding together the still-not-healed right side of Dolce's jaw is made of stainless steal and should be fine staying in there for a long period of time and should not come out on it's own. So we are giving Dolce's jaw more time to heal and hopefully we can get his heart condition to calm down a bit.

In other news, I mentioned to Dr. Adams that Dolce consumes large amounts of water very often, much more often than our other dogs. Because of the constant need for water and the fact that Dolce's blood work from January showed elevated numbers in his kidneys we had new blood work done today. On Tuesday we will get the results back and see what exactly is going on with Dolce. Once the blood work is back we will hopefully be scheduling a dental for Dolce. I'm not sure if I'm more excited or more worried about the dental being done...but I do know that I trust Dr. Adams and feel like Dolce is safe in his hands.

Here's a little funny conversation Brett and I had with Dr. Adams today:
Sierra: I constantly feel worried that Dolce is going to drop dead.
Dr. Adams: Well that's the trouble with heart disease, it often does happen that way.
Sierra: So I was right to call Brett at the gym today and tell him to come home immediately because Dolce was looking at me weird?!?
Brett: She worries about everything.
Dr. Adams: Well no, but you should be prepared that it is a possibility eventually.
Sierra: I knew he was on the verge of death!
Dr. Adams: You would know if he was dying...
Sierra: (to Brett) See! I told you!

In all seriousness, I do constantly worry about Dolce and fear that I will lose him. I worry about having to live a without him in it and when it will happen..because I'm not ready yet...I'm not sure I'll ever be ready. If I had it my way he would not do anything that could potentially hurt him. Of course then he would not be living the happy life he should be living...so I never stop him from playing and running..but I do draw the line at running up the steps to the front door. I want to do everything I possibly can to keep him healthy and to feel safe and most importantly loved. (Just as I am typing this part Dolce gets up and lays down right next to me...gosh I just love him so much.) I try to remind myself that although I don't know how much time Dolce will be with me, at least I had him in my life...easier said than done. I guess at the end of every day the saying, "who rescued who?" proves to be true for me.

Friday, August 5, 2011

A Former Breeder Dog's Paradise

I haven't posted an update on Dolce for a month now, only because there really hasn't been much going on. Tomorrow we take him to see Dr. Adams to get a quote and decide what the exact plan will be for Dolce and his jaw.

Beyond his jaw, Dolce has been doing pretty well. He's lost a little bit of weight, but we're working on getting it back on him. He loves going for walks, playing outside and of course growling at EVERYTHING. His recall is improving slightly and we've created a plan that works for us (Dolce and I). I promise to not pick up Dolce and take him inside, if he promises to come when I call his name. It's actually funny, sometimes when Brett is outside with him I have to go outside and tell Dolce to come in...I swear its because we agreed upon this deal. Beyond our deal, we took him to the beach a couple weekends ago and he had a blast. He actually had too good of a time and we had to place him on a leash to stop him from chasing down and trying to mount every dog walking by. He's getting better with his need to mount all the time, he now understands that he's not supposed to do it. When we tell him to stop he usually will stop and find a spot to sit (of course he growls until he sits down to let us know we've annoyed him). But at the dog beach, with hundreds of unleashed dogs, it was a free for all...a former breeder dog's paradise.

I'll give an update tomorrow regarding the plan we have for Dolce and getting his jaw healed up.